Castile Soap, My Love

When Stuart and I started eating differently a few years ago, I didn't realize how much it would affect other aspects of our life.  It first began by thinking about what we were putting in our mouths and then evolved into thinking about what we put on our skin and what products we would use in our home.

That being said, I would like you to meet my very best friend.

Friend, meet Castile Soap. Castile Soap, meet my friend.

(Hey, I warned you this was a sight for geeks like me!)

Castile soap rocked my world from day one. Take a look at those ingredients.  All natural, organic oils and extracts.  That's it.  Castile soap is an olive oil based soap. I bet you are saying, "But Shaye, how the heck can I get squeaky clean from oil?" to which I say, "Try it. Your skin will squeak."

We use castile soap for anything we would use regular soap for.  It's our body wash, face soap, hand soap, house cleaning soap, sometimes shampoo, and even sometimes our dish soap.  Prior to using castile soap, I was paying mucho dinero for a special face wash for oily skin.  I quit using it cold turkey (I was an addict-of-fancy-face-stuff), started using castile soap, and my skin is now as soft as lil' Georgia's toosh.  Instead of stripping away your skins natural oils, you are adding to them - replenishing your goodies in the process.  It's a win-win.  You use small amounts, lather it in your hands (get some good foam action going on!) and then proceed with your dirty duties.

Plus, castile soap is fairly inexpensive.  We have gone through about four bottles in the last year and a half.  The bottles come in various sizes, but the one we buy is usually around $8.  You can probably find it at your local health food store or on Amazon, here.  Dr. Bronner's comes in a variety of scents , including: hemp, eucalyptus, lavender, and peppermint.  Yummy.  We use the lavender because it is lovely. They even offer a mild baby one, here.

Traditional bar soaps and body washes contain things like lecithin, propylene glycol, tetrasodium EDTA, trisodium HEDTA, and triethanolamine.  Know what those are?  Me neither.  But they have been linked to nasties like skin irritation and even cancer.  Google the ingredients of your soap.  Do it.  I dare you!  I follow the rule "If you wouldn't eat it, don't put it on your skin!"  We absorb more chemicals through our skin than through eating!  Isn't that fascinating?  Still with me?  What we put on our skin is just as important, if not more, than what we put in our bodies!

Now I am not trying to scare you into trying castile soap but USE IT OR YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.  Just playing!  But seriously, you will die.  Kidding.  I joke with you.  Castile soap is simply a great, inexpensive and high quality alternative to traditional soaps.  Maybe small changes like this could make a big difference in the overall health of our homes and bodies.

Try it.  Let me know if your skin squeaks.